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LIVE! Injured naval commander Abhilash Tomy to be rescued within 3 hours

09:45  30 back-to-back bilateral meets for Sushma at UNGA today:  In a jam-packed schedule, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will hold over 30 bilateral meetings as a part of her visit to the United States, starting today.

Swaraj’s hectic schedule will begin with the meetings with Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini today.

She will also hold talks with Liechtenstein Foreign Minister Aurelia Frick, Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Spain Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, Colombia Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo later in the day.

On the sidelines of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the External Affairs Minister, apart from participating in the UNGA Debate on September 25, will also attend US President Donald Trump’s event on a call for action against the global drug problem.

Swaraj will also be attending the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit at the General Assembly Hall, at the UN headquarter in New York.The Indian External Affairs Minister will also take part in the G4 meet to be held tomorrow besides also attending the Non-Aligned Movement meeting on September 26 and meetings of the BRICS, IBSA and SAARC on September 27.

Swaraj’s statement in the UN General Assembly will take place on September 29.Swaraj was also slated to meet her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UNGA. However, after increasing reports of violence on police and army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir, the meeting was called off. — ANI

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09:19  Injured naval commander Abhilash Tomy to be rescued within 3 hours:  

Help is expected to reach an injured Indian sailor stranded in remote waters far off the West Australian coast in the next three-odd hours, according to rescuers. 

Solo skipper Abhilash Tomy, an officer in the Indian Navy, was taking part in the around-the-world Golden Globe Race when his 10-metre vessel Thuriya struck trouble in the south-west Indian Ocean on Friday.

The mast on Tomy’s yacht broke during a storm and he is understood to have suffered a serious back injury, leaving him confined to his bunk about 1,800 nautical miles (3,300 kilometres) south-west of Perth.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s search and rescue operations manager Alan Lloyd said there was still only limited information available about Tomy’s condition, but help was getting closer.

Tomy became the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe when he achieved the feat in 2013, his website says.

He was in third place in the Golden Globe Race when the storm hit.

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08:51  PM Modi to inaugurate Sikkim’s first airport in Pakyong today:  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Pakyong Airport, Sikkims first-ever airport, on Monday.

The airport, which is located at Pakyong, is a Greenfield airport which will circumvent the need for a five-hour journey through mountainous roads and bring citizens of Sikkim closer to the state capital.

Located around 60 km from the Indo-China border, the airport is strategically relevant from a security point of view. The Indian Air Force will also find this airport convenient for landing and taking off, Union Minister for Development of Northeastern Region, Dr Jitendra Singh, said on Sunday.

The establishment of the airport is expected to provide major impetus to tourism, with Sikkim being perceived as one of the most popular destinations for tourists all throughout the year. It is also expected to cause a significant reduction in travel time for tourists, who earlier had to board from Badgodra in West Bengal.

Built at an estimated cost of over Rs 605 crore, the Pakyong airport is a new distinction for Sikkim, which has, in the last three to four years, achieved the distinction of becoming the first Organic State and also the first Open Defecation Free state of India.

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08:38  Cong to meet CVC to seek independent probe into Rafale deal:  

A delegation of top Congress leaders will meet the Central Vigilance Commission on Monday to seek an independent probe into the alleged corruption in the Rafale fighter jets deal, the party said.

  

Last week, the Congress had met the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. It had requested the apex auditor to prepare a report on the alleged irregularities in the deal and present it in Parliament.

It will make a similar request to the CVC, besides demanding registration of a case of corruption in the matter, the party said on Sunday.

The Congress has launched an offensive against the BJP government over the Rafale deal alleging corruption and violation of rules by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded answers from him.

 It has also accused the prime minister, finance minister and defence minister of “lying on the issue”.

The Rafale controversy took a turn last week after former French president Francois Hollande claimed that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence’s name as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation.

Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after holding talks with the then French president Hollande on April 10, 2015, in Paris. 

In response, the French government said it was in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the Rafale deal, asserting that French firms have the full freedom to select Indian companies for the contract.

— PTI

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08:23  France fears damage after Hollande fans controversy over Rafale deal:  

The French government said it feared damage to its relations with India after its former president Francois Hollande stirred controversy about a major deal to sell Rafale fighter jets to New Delhi.

Hollande, who left office in May last year, said on Friday that French jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation had been given no choice about its local partner in the 2016 deal with the Indian government.

The Narendra Modi government agreed to buy 36 Rafale jets from Dassault, which announced afterwards it was partnering for the project with billionaire Anil Ambanis Reliance group rather than the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Hollandes announcement that Dassault did not have a say in it added fuel to allegations by opposition parties that the Modi government had intervened to help Ambani.

I find these remarks made overseas, which concern important international relations between France and India, do not help anyone and above all do not help France, junior foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said Sunday about Hollande.

Because one is no longer in office, causing damage to a strategic partnership between India and France by making remarks that clearly cause controversy in India is really not appropriate, he said in an interview on Radio J.

Hollande made the comments to defend himself from accusations of a conflict of interest because Ambanis Reliance conglomerate had partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend, Julie Gayet, in 2016.

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08:06  Maldives opposition leader wins presidential poll:  

Opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won the Maldives’ presidential election, results showed on Monday, a surprise defeat for President Abdulla Yameen, following a campaign observers said was rigged in the strongman’s favour.

Results released by the Elections Commission early Monday morning showed Solih had secured 58.3 per cent of the popular vote.

Celebrations broke out across the tropical archipelago with opposition supporters carrying yellow flags of Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party and dancing on the streets. There was no response from Yameen after the results were announced.

Solih had the backing of a united opposition trying to oust Yameen but struggled for visibility with the electorate, with the local media fearful of falling afoul of heavy-handed decrees and reporting restrictions.

Photograph: Ashwa Faheem/Reuters

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07:48  Pakistan’s friendship offer to India should not be seen as weakness: PM Imran Khan:  

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said that his country’s offer of “friendship” to India should not be considered as its weakness and the Indian leadership should shun “arrogance” to hold peace talks.

Khan had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking to re-start bilateral talks on key issues including on terrorism and Kashmir.

India initially agreed to a meeting between Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this month. 

However, New Delhi on Friday called off the meeting, citing the “brutal” killing of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the release of the postal stamps “glorifying” Kashmiri terrorist Burhan Wani.

Khan said, “I hope the Indian leadership will shun arrogance and hold (peace) talks with Pakistan. Our offer of friendship should not be considered as our weakness. Friendship between Pakistan and India will help overcome poverty”

   

Khan said Pakistan “should not be threatened as it will not tolerate any act of hostility.” 

“Friendship (between Pakistan and India) is in the benefit of both the countries. We will not take pressure of any world power,” the prime minister said.

In a sharp reaction to India’s cancellation of the meeting, Khan on Saturday said that India’s decision to cancel the foreign minister-level talks in New York was “arrogant” and asserted that he was “disappointed” by the New Delhi’s “negative” response.   

— PTI

Source: Rediff